


In The Kitchen Light

by vanillann



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, One Shot, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 07:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanillann/pseuds/vanillann
Summary: After the Orpheum performance, Julie finds Luke in the kitchen much like he was the night before she performed at her school. After some light flirting and teasing, feelings become very open between the pair.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 87





	In The Kitchen Light

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: my tumblr is broken so i thought why don't write some juke, bare with me this is my first juke fic
> 
> my other platforms:  
> tumblr: vanillann  
> wattpad: vanillann

Julie sat up straight in her bed, her fingers twirling over the curls in her hair as she watched herself in the mirror. She looked exactly the same last night, but that was before she played the Orpheum.

She was still on a small high from the performance and the fact the boys were, thankful, safe from whatever Caleb mark was destined to do. She was still confused about the whole thing, how it had all happened, but her band was all in tack and she didn’t have the energy to wonder anything more than that.

She caught sight of the ribbons that were in her hair hours ago, the way they were delicately braided into her hair with ease, and came out with a tug, Carlos wasn’t good with taking out braids. She stood up, her legs working before her brain, and picked them up before she knew what to do with it. 

But as soon as she did, she knew where they truly belonged. She let her slippered feet slide across her hardwood floor, her eyes focused on her mother’s trunk at the end of her bed. She unlatched and let the soft scent of her mother fill her scenes. It was the best and worst part of the trunk, smelling like she was still there and for a few seconds Julie liked to think she was, but she never was.

The concert tickets and the shirt that she swears wasn’t there till she was sitting on the floor with Flynn, were placed as they belonged in a museum. Julie slides it over slightly, moving a few other objects around before her mother’s old, and an empty, jewelry box was found and a sad smile found its way to her lips. Opening it, she placed the three different colored ribbons in the box and held it as close to her chest as possible. She was holding three of the most important people in her life in her palm. 

The crash from downstairs drew Julie from the euphoria she had built around herself. She couldn’t be positive she knew what the sound was, with a little brother and all, but she had slowly adopted three dead ‘little’ brothers and this felt so much more their style. Julie was shutting the trunk and running from her room in a second, panic feeling her chest as she took each step two at a time. 

Once she had landed on the last step we swung around on the railing, not shocked to find Luke standing in the center of the kitchen with his finger in the peanut butter jar and a guilty wide-eyed look that Julie couldn’t ignore, she was trying at least.

“What did I say about leaving the fridge open?”

Luke smirked at her words, taking his finger from the peanut butter jar and sucking the butter from his finger, watching Julie as she walked to the fridge and quietly shut the door. The once slightly lit-up kitchen was much darker, the only light was the moon that was cast across the marble of the island and part of Luke’s arm, not that Julie was looking at his arm.

“Now I can’t see you,” Julie faintly heard Luke move around the kitchen, barely making out the outline of him as he moved until the overhead light on the island lit-up. Luke was leaning against the wall near the light switch with a cocky smile across his face.

Julie couldn’t believe she liked someone so cocky, it was a trait that she never found attractive, but the way he carried himself made it seem as if it was his own way of confidence and Julie adored it more than she’d ever admit to him.

“You found the light switch, I’m so proud,” her words sounded hurtful, but the smile she wore betrayed her words as she moved to the empty side on the island, the other held a bag of bread and homemade jelly.

“You should be, I’ve only been here my entire afterlife.”

She laughed at the joke, but a light jolt to her heart was there as it was the silent reminder of their entire problem, he was dead talking to a living girl.

Flynn never let her forget the fact, ever since the performance in dance with Nick and the discussion of her thoughts.

“Whatcha doing?”

“Making PB&J for Alex, it’s always helped with his anxiety,” Luke shrugged and practically slid across the floor to the other side of the island, placing the peanut jar down.

Her heart grew at his words, at seeing how he cared for his friends that she knew was probably a mess with everything that had happened in one single night. He would’ve given everything up for the boys from his band, his organs were theirs in his own mind and it made Julie wonder if the stunt pulled tonight was a sign he felt the same about her.

Would he give anything for her, or would he give everything?

“How are you feeling?” Julie wondered would be enough but she conceited nonetheless, “any more jolts I should know about?”

“Nope, I think we’re good,” Luke looked up from the jelly jar with his brightest smile, his dimples on full display as he struggled to open the jar, his hands her wet from licking peanut butter off them is the only reason Julie could think he couldn’t open it.

She reached out, taking the jar from his hands, and easily opened it, a little smile as she slid it back across the table. Luke’s cheeks were aflame with crimson, something she found charming as he silently thanked her and looked around the island for something.

“What would I do without you?”

“Have only a peanut butter sandwich,” Julie swung slightly on her stool, softly watching him as he searched the marble countertop. His eyes were a seafoam green, something she never quite understood until meeting him.

“You know I’d be more lost than that,” he dared, peaked through his eyelashes, a hint of a gentle smile, which was Julie’s favorite.

“Maybe you managed ‘95 without me,” she slowly brought her knees to her chest, barely balancing on the stool but doing well enough she didn’t worry about falling.

“I died.”

She was laughing before she could stop herself, covering her mouth before her dad overheard. She couldn’t help herself, she always seemed to turn a giggling mess when he was around, but she did actually find him funny. It wasn’t her laughing to fill his ego or make him prideful, she liked his jokes and his little eye rolls when he teased Reggie.

It was the same with Nick before Luke, yet different all the same.

“You’re lucky you have a pretty laugh,” Luke did the eye roll in question, spinning on his heels as he turned back to the fridge. Julie felt her stomach drop in the best way possible, he found her laugh pretty. It was enough to fuel her for the rest of the night and possibly well into tomorrow.

“Do you have marshmallows, Alex always puts them in his PB&J’s.” Luke spun again, barely closing the fridge behind him as he found a cabinet, and quickly looked through that one. Julie jumped off the stool, running to close the fridge before hopping over to a bottom cabinet and rummaging through it to find the marshmallows from the back.

She stood up, turning to hold out the marshmallows but her hand hit Luke’s chest as he stood watching her closely. She jumped back, still not used to the idea of touching him.

That was the oddest part about tonight when she looked back on it, touching them. It wasn’t something she ever thought she had the luxury of doing but as Reggie hugged her with tears running down her face, she realized how comforting it was, how her warm finger felt running circles on Luke’s cold cheeks, his tears almost gone as he watched her hold him like delicate fine china.

“Sorry,” Julie placed the bag in the outreached palm and gave him a classic nervous smile, something he would slowly become used to if he didn’t disappear but morning.

“You’re good, still not used to you doing that.”

She hated he was so calm about being near her, how he could form thoughts around her like normal. She was barely keeping herself together after tonight, yet he stood in a ripped blue tux and messy gelled hair like the Disney prince’s Julie adored as a kid.

She wondered how he saw her in her cheetah slippers and random ‘I Heart LA’ shirt she found in the back of her closet.

“Me either,” her words were as far away as her thoughts.

“You okay Jules?”

Now he was pulling out nicknames, how was she supposed to function when he was standing there calling her Jules like it was her real name.

“Yeah, overwhelmed but yeah.”

She waited for him to move, to let her around to go back to her room while he made his PB&J for his friend who was nervous out of her mind, but he didn’t move. He stood, watching her so closely she wondered what he found so interesting on her face, was there a fly or something?

“Overwhelmed?”

“Yeah, been a long night,” Julie crossed her arms, shielding herself from whatever would happen next because truth be told, she didn’t know if she was ready. 

“Yeah,” his words rang out at the end, his hand finding her hair and tucking it behind her as gentle as she felt, as she looked. She wanted to pull in herself, his cold touch like fire on her warm one, but she couldn’t pull away.

His coldness was warmer than any winter she’d seen in California, how she imagined dry ice. Something so cold that lit your entire boy on fire as soon as it came in contact with his lighter. 

“Luke.”

“Jules.”

“Alex is probably waiting for his sandwich,” she wondered if he understood what she was doing, but considering she didn’t know what she was doing she doubted it.

“Alex can’t eat when he’s panicked.”

Suddenly Julie couldn’t focus on his dry ice touch, but his soft whispers as he looked down on her.

“But the marshmallows?”

He chuckled at her tone, something she couldn’t blame him for, as he twisted the bag in his hand.

“Were an excuse to stay longer,” he tilted his head as he watched her, “I was prepared to put ketchup on it if it came down to it.”’

She wished she wished she was mad that he lied, but as he let his hand drop she only wanted to reach out and grab it. She almost did, she almost jumped from her skin to feel his touch again but as he slowly backed away with his smile still on his face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave you be. You know where to find me when you’re ready to pick this up, I’ll be waiting.”

He was proofing out of the kitchen seconds later, leaving Julie in a melted mess on the floor as we felt her heart slam over and over in her chest. Luke Patterson had done a number on her heart, but he was prepared to color it in with every line clean and perfectly painted.

He was prepared to wait for his lighter to the dry ice of his touch. Julie slowly walked to the kitchen island, picking a piece off the made PB&J and chewing on the soft piece of bread under the harsh kitchen light.


End file.
